Bf 109 into service and into action - A, B, C and D variants

Bf 109B-1

By the beginning of 1937, the Bf 109 production lines were well established, official testing and evaluation was building experience with the fighter and the first examples were entering squadron service. All of this was providing feedback regarding the design to Messerschmitt, and the aircraft began to evolve.

There is a great deal of confusion over the first four versions of the Bf 109 to enter service with the Luftwaffe, largely due to the aircraft being in a state of flux. Modifications and improvements were added to the production line as they occurred, causing a number of differing models to appear concurrently or out of sequence. It quickly became apparent that in the Bf 109 the Luftwaffe had a world beating fighter, but shortcomings with power and armament were highlighted by the test and evaluation E-Stelle units and by the pilots who first took the Bf 109 into combat over Spain. These evaluation comments and the operational feedback caused Messerschmitt to reexamine several facets of his fighter, and in solving the problems the company rapidly created a range of prototypes and sub variants of the four basic models. For simplicity I will take the individual versions in alphabetical rather than chronological order, as with some of these aircraft the picture is obscure enough without complicating matters unnecessarily.

Bf 109 documentary

Here is an intersting documentary about Bf 109

Bf 109 - The History of Germany’s most numerous World War Two fighter

Unquestionably one of the greatest single-seat fighters ever produced, the Bf 109 served the Luftwaffe both before and throughout World War Two. Built in greater numbers than any other fighter in history, the sleek monoplane proved itself at least the equal of the Supermarine Spitfire in terms of its potential for development. Whereas many of its contemporaries – such as the Hawker Hurricane – were more or less outdated by D-Day, later versions of the German machine remained competitive until the end of the war.

Bf 109

Although the later Focke-Wulf Fw 190 is generally regarded as the better overall combat aircraft, it was the Messerschmitt that formed the backbone of the Luftwaffe’s fighter force. Its merits were numerous – it was small and agile, superb in both the climb and the dive, a stable gun platform, and could be easily adapted for carrying small bombs for ground attack operations.

The aircraft’s origins date back to the early 1930s, at which time it was being designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser. After a development contract was awarded, design work on Messerschmitt Project Number P.1034 officially began in March 1934. A basic mock-up was completed in May, and a more detailed version was ready in January 1935.

Welcome

Hi,
Welcome to my blog dedicated to the Messerschmitt Bf 109. I inted to make this blog a hub of information about this legendary aircraft. I hope you will like it!